So, in the midst of packing, travelling, working, teaching classes, grading papers, getting ready for Finals....basically life....I've let this slip. I don't think I have any readers yet anyway (except my wife) so nobody's missing out...I think.
I've noticed life and time just have a way of slipping by. So much has happened in the last week. The murder of a football player, going to see Billy Joel in concert, packing up 95% of the stuff in my office, realizing that my days in Abilene can now be counted on two hands, trying to keep up with the 10,000 things that I'm requested to join on Facebook (okay, slight exaggeration)....it's hard to keep up!
Let's start with Billy Joel: He can still bring it and that's all I'm sayin'. He's got to be in his 60's and he exudes more energy in a two-hour period than I probably do in a day. He is a legend, a hall-of-famer and, to his own admittance, a former alcoholic. He joked around with the audience about his drinking and driving issues while still being the performer we all expected him to be. It was the first concert I've been to where I felt like I was just hangin' out in someone's house with about 20,000 of their closest friends. He sang all of Sara and I's favorites and threw in some older stuff just to keep us on our toes. I had the pleasure of seeing him in 1986 with my Dad at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit and I really couldn't tell the difference. He plays the piano like a mechanic works on a car or like an artist works on a pallet. He would play Christmas songs that naturally would segue into one of his old hits. Who else can turn, "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" into "Allentown" in a matter of a note. It was the best birthday/Christmas present I could ever had asked for and I got to spend it with my wife of almost 10 years who laughed and smiled at almost every line of, "She's Always A Woman". There are certain moments, snapshots, songs, words and feelings that just take you back to certain times in your past and it happens so quickly. Maybe time isn't flying as fast as I think it is.
